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Chinese police patrol outside a branch of the Carrefour supermarket in the coastal city of Qingdao which will play host to the Olympic sailing events later this year. Fresh protests have broken out across China with thousands of demonstrators targeting US broadcaster CNN and French chain store Carrefour in disputes over Tibetan unrest and the Beijing Olympics. (AFP)

Fresh anti-Western protests broke out in China Sunday with angry demonstrators targeting US broadcaster CNN and French store Carrefour in rows over perceived bias, Tibet and the Beijing Olympics.

Protesters in Xian, Harbin and Jinan defied a huge police crackdown to chant slogans and hold banners that read "Oppose Tibet independence," "Oppose CNN's anti-China statements" and "Boycott Carrefour," a participant said.

"This was a patriotic movement, people want CNN and Carrefour to apologise," Wang Zheng, a protester at a Carrefour store in the northern city of Xian, told AFP by telephone.

"We oppose Tibetan and Taiwan independence and we also oppose the politicisation of the Olympic Games."

As demonstrations continued for a second day, France said it was sending two envoys with messages from President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been unpopular over his threat to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony.

Former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin arrives on Wednesday while the president's top diplomatic adviser, Jean-David Levitte, is due to fly in next weekend.

Anti-French feeling was fanned by Paris's chaotic leg of the Olympic torch relay, while Carrefour's 122 supermarkets here have been subject to boycotts over its alleged support of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, which it denies.

Protesters are also lashing out at the CNN TV network over its commentator Jack Cafferty, who caused outrage last week when he called the Beijing leadership "goons and thugs" and slammed the quality of Chinese exports.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, more than 1,000 people assembled in front of the Carrefour store in Xian, while demonstrations also occurred at stores in the northeastern city of Harbin and Jinan in the east.

The protests follow noisy anti-China demonstrations in London, Paris and San Francisco that have marred the international Beijing Olympic torch relay, an event aimed at promoting this year's Games.

Anti-China demonstrations have grown internationally since Beijing began quelling unrest in Tibet last month, when peaceful protests turned into riots and spread through neighbouring Tibetan-populated areas.

Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people have died in the government crackdown. China says Tibetan "rioters" killed 18 civilians and two policemen.

Sunday's protests came despite a huge police presence and as state media toned down weeks of anti-Western rhetoric over the torch relay demonstrations and foreign coverage of Tibet, which have apparently enraged public opinion.

At one point, 53 police cars were seen on the rooftop car park of a Carrefour store in the eastern city of Qingdao, an AFP photographer witnessed.

Dozens of law enforcement vehicles were seen clamping down on any sign of unrest on the streets around the store, where large-scale protests erupted Saturday, he said.

"The anti-Carrefour, anti-CNN, anti-France feelings all derive out of events in Tibet," Paul Harris, a China expert at Hong Kong Lingnan Univeristy, told AFP.

"To say this was not coordinated by government officials would be speculation... it is safer to say that the government was very much aware these things were being organised and allowed them to go ahead."

But Harris also said that Chinese authorities were gravely concerned that anti-Western sentiment could evolve into anti-government unrest centered on unemployment, inflation and official corruption.

State press urged calm on Sunday after protests erupted in the cities of Beijing, Qingdao, Wuhan, Hefei, Kunming and Xian the previous day.

Saturday's protests led to Carrefour store closures in at least Qingdao, Wuhan and Hefei but on Sunday those outlets and supermarkets in Xian, Harbin and Jinan were all operating normally, Xinhua said.

"The more the Dalai Lama clique tries to disrupt the Olympic torch relay and some Western politicians and media take advantage to launch attacks and condemn China, the more we need to unify with the people of the world to hold a successful Olympic Games," it said.

News broadcasts on state television said citizens must act responsibly ahead of the Beijing Games, but also condemned a perceived Western bias against China.

State television Sunday also reported large-scale pro-China protests that occurred around the world a day earlier in Los Angeles, Paris, Britain and Berlin.

AFP

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